"Travel is a vanishing act. You move through landscapes and other people's lives much like a ghost, touching some things and being touched by others. And on a few occasions you just sit back and take it all in, maybe even learn something."

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Month of Mud at Bavington

First race of the fall season and my first mountain bike race in PA was decent. I was able to ride 1/2 the course for pre-race with a couple of other Sport racers. I discovered that the tight singletrack did not allow for me to pick up very much speed, even on descents. So, I had to keep the speed in check throughout the entire race. I ended up finishing the 7.5 mile time trial race in just over 50 minutes, which placed me 13th out of 36 Sport riders. Not bad considering it was my first official mtn bike race out here. I realized there are lots of great riders here which certainly amplifies the competition. Next up, my third ever cyclocross race this Saturday. I went through a cyclocross clinic last Saturday, so hopefully the skills that I took from that will manifest themselves on Saturday.